Shadow
by duasembilan
Summary: A story prior to the explosion at Gekkoukan High year 1999.
1. Chapter 1

**Awakening**

* * *

_Can't you see it? A red line that tied people together. How each of them connected to one another like a huge spider's web? Can't you see it? The little scissors moving past those lines. How it callously cut the lines between the dead and the living? Can't you see it? A hole in the hearts of the living. How it grew wider and wider each time the lines were cut?_

_The answer would be; no. Mostly because you're a being who was by nature an individualist. A being with no care of anything other than your own self. A being of solitude. A lone wolf. A survivalist. You name it. You didn't feel the need of relying on others, be it from your own kind or those humans you met. You believe you can do anything by yourself. Yes, that had been your mindset ever since the time you were born. _

_You were a shadow._

* * *

Year 1995,  
Tatsumi Port Island.

A young man abruptly woke up from his sleep, tightly pinching his nose bridge as a slight dizziness kicked in. He focused his eyes, capturing a sight of a vacant steel chair across the metal table in front of him. A jolt of pain flashed through his mind as he tried to move. Gritting his teeth, he eased his fast paced breathing while had his eyes scanned his surroundings. He found himself inside a cubical room with a minimum source of light to see anything other than the chair and the table in front of him. His hand were chained behind his back and he was sitting on the other side of the empty chair. Moving his feet, he felt a cold sensation of a steel circling on his feet.

He felt his fringes covered his forehead as he looked down on his feet. They were chained down onto the table, limiting his mobility. A sudden light crept in when a creaking noise was heard. The man looked away from it and he close his eyes. A loud noise of steel clashing was heard and with that the brightness returned to its earlier state. There were noise of footsteps growing near. The man dared himself to open his eyes and saw an old man with a smile so wide that revealed all of his teeth.

"My, my, look at you. You look fantastic!" The old man spoke in a gruffly voice. "Don't bother to speak. I'm not here to converse with you. I merely need you to listen. Do you understand?"

The man nodded obediently.

"Good." The old man used the chair as a support as he leaned closer, displaying his reddened eyes into the light. "Your name is Tokio. You are the ace of my project. Thus I will not tolerate any failure on your missions. Carve it into your head well."

* * *

A portrait of a man's face was thrown on the desk. In the picture, the man has an unkempt, medium length, dark curly hair with part of its fringe covered most of his forehead down to his eyes. A pair of bright-yellow eyes were still visible, although slightly. And under it was a stern nose and a lined lips. His feature was defined and he has a distinctive squared jaw that made him looked like a foreigner.

"That is you, Tokio." A middle aged man who introduced himself as Takeba Eiichiro declared. "I don't get it why Chief wanted me to give you this picture. But still, looking at you act all clueless, I kind of understand now."

Tokio picked the portrait of himself and observed it a little more before he put it inside the breast pocket. He then blankly stared at the scientist, waiting for him to say more.

"You really don't talk much, huh? Sorry if I act like I know you, but I have in fact read your dossier. Nevertheless," Takeba handed him a collection of files, "here is your first mission. I suggest you talk to Kimijima Yuu, in regard of the mission details as well as the information about the Anti-Shadow weapon." the scientist sighed, "We will assign it a mission as soon as its Persona is functioned well. That means, you will work together with it most of the time during your missions."

Nodding, Tokio took the files.

"Okay, I suppose I rambled too much. Good luck on your mission, Tokio."

Tokio steered himself toward the woman named Kimijima Yuu. He had to ask several other scientist before managed to locate her in her lab. Someone guided him inside the lab as he asked for her presence.

"Ah, you are Tokio, correct?" a woman with darkish green hair addressed him as soon as she noticed his presence. She appeared to be younger than any other person he met in this facility. "My name is Kimijima Yuu. Nice to meet you."

Tokio stared down at her hand as it moved forward.

"Come now, don't be afraid. It's just a handshake." She said, taking his hand and locked it into hers tightly. A giggle was heard from her mouth, "You are as clueless as Chief said."

When she released his hand, she moved toward a large tube at the end of the lab. Tokio could see a face behind the oval glass on the tube but he couldn't make it well. Kimijima smiled as she stood beside the tube.

"This is Aigis. She is an Anti-Shadow weapon we are developing. She's still incomplete now, sadly. But I digress. I'm sure you need something from me?"

Tokio nodded as he handed the files to her. Kimijima observed them with great interest before handed it back to him in a few minutes.

"Give me a minute, okay?" she said, moving into her desk and began doing something with her computer.

Tokio only stared at her. But then, he found an interest toward the creature inside the tube; Aigis. He walked toward it and watched silently as a blue liquid filled the tube with Aigis sleeping inside. What he found interesting was how Kimijima addressed Aigis as 'she,' as if she was a person while Takeba simply addressed Aigis as 'it,' the Anti-Shadow weapon. As his mind wondered, he caught a glimpse of his own yellow eyes reflected from the glass. A faint dizziness struck him suddenly and he put his hand over his forehead to subdue it.

"Tokio? Are you okay?"

The dark haired man merely nodded, noticing a worried look on Kimijima's small feature.

"Okay then. Here's the map of the Shadow location. Its arcana is magician and according to the data we have, it has a lack of physical endurance. But its magic power is something to look out for. So, be careful, okay?"

* * *

Dark Hour finally crept in, turning the moon into a huge greenish round thing that shone among the darkness of the bloody street filled with coffins. Tokio found a familiarity in this world and he saw himself smiling at the reflection from the puddle of blood. Shanking the thought off, he exanimated the map Kimijima gave him and crosschecked with the nearest sign post. Before he conclude anything a loud roar was heard from behind, gaining his attention.

A large and disordered figure was seen. Its main form was apparently in black liquid, trying to connect one another as defied by gravity. A blue mask of an expressionless person was sighted on the top of its body, being held by what appeared to be a long hand. As observed more, the mask has an 'I' engraved on it.

Tokio removed a handgun from its hostler on his hip. He pointed it at the mask and pulled the trigger. The bullet missed the target, went through the liquid body instead and resulting the creature roared loudly into his ears. Tokio moved up his palm at the agitated creature and summoned a barrage of thunder bolts at it. Roars of pain was heard afterward.

As the damage was done, the creature slowly grew a series of long arms on its body. Without slowing its steadfast advance, the creature began to continuously send a fire ball through its arms. Its velocity was fast and if he hadn't enhanced his agility, he would've been burned to crisp.

Tokio dashed forward as the last set of fireball closing in, effectively dodging it while making an advance at the creature. Now the gap is shortened, he shot a pair of bullets into its mask before imbued them with electricity that initiated from his free hand. The attack hit, stunning the creature in a state of disorder.

Charging up his left hand with electricity and Tokio gritted his teeth as the pain from using this technique rose up into his head. Enduring it, he took one last glimpse at the creature that still chaotically roared its way out of its pain. Tokio shout out a loud cry as he unleashed the energy into the ground.

It cracked in a line before circling around the creature. An excessive amount of electricity sprawl over the circled area before it evolved into a giant thunderbolt, striking the creature from where it stood. Tokio stared at the light generated from the bolt as it ate the creature into nothingness. Before it was dispersed completely, he threw a capsule at the creature, draining what's left of it and sealed it inside.

The dark haired man stared blankly into the distance for a moment, wondering how he had such power with him. Then again, he also curious of that creature he had defeated. For some reasons he also felt a sense of familiarity with it.

* * *

Saechika Ruri silently watched how the shadow interacted with one of the scientist. Aside from its unanimated face and its lack of speaking, it seemed as normal as any human being. It could take order very well and comprehend the Japanese completely. Given the fact that only Persona User could harm shadows, people inside the facility was convinced to believe it had one, as written in its dossier. So far, everything went well as expected. However, she couldn't help but thinking somebody might have notice its origin sooner or than later.

The shadow noticed her presence as he turned back. Saechika gestured it to come and she made her way into her office. A dark-blue jacket the shadow wore had its left arm torn apart, exposing the shadow's human arm with burned stains all over its sickly pale skin.

"Sit." She said with her usual deepened voice.

Saechika watched it sat down across from her. Its stare was blank and harmless, but she knew better not to ease her guard. She demanded it to report on the mission.

"The mission was a success. Although," The shadow slid its uncanny yellow eyes to the side for a moment before returned to face her, "Takeba said the fragments I gave him were a little less than he expected."

_Irrelevant._ All she wanted to know was if anyone questioned its identity. But, judging by how the mission went successfully was a decent proof nobody was. "It's fine. Listen, return to this address as soon as you finished your mission. Starting from now." She handed it a piece of paper. "Dismissed."

The shadow nodded and silently left the room. She had doubt if the bystander would let a yellow eyed human walking free on the street without them noticing. But it's past midnight. No one would give a damn about anything at this point.

"Saechika." the familiar gruffly voice called as she was finished writing today's report. It belonged to Kirijo Kouetsu, the Chief of the Shadow Project. And also the man behind her experiment. "How's the ace doing? I heard the mission went well."

"It suffered minor injury." Saechika began, adjusting her glasses up, "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"Cold, aren't you?" Kirijo let out a wide grin, "Nonetheless, I am glad it succeeded. Just a reminder, Saechika. Make sure nobody knows its true identity. Understood?"

"Understood."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me."

A sigh escaped from her lips as Kirijo walked out of her office.

* * *

The dawn was coming. Saechika squinted her coal eyes as she glimpsed the sunlight. The sedan she drove had its speed lowered at the junction before it made a turn to the right. She steered it inside an apartment building not far from the junction and parked her car in the basement.

Without her while lab coat, everyone who saw her might thought she was another single and unemployed woman with a stained hoody jacket over a pair of dark jeans. And she wanted them to perceive her that way to hide her identity as a shadow researcher. The thick glasses she usually wore in the office was removed so she appeared more convincing in her disguise.

The apartment building was a mid-class, according to some guy who scouted the apartment for her. She lived on the third floor along with cordial and somewhat annoying neighbors. A façade of her being lazy and unemployed was made to ease her living in the neighborhood, mostly because she can't stand people yapping about their day, or just people in general. Besides, being unemployed made her schedule less predictable and she could go back whenever she liked without the neighbors being suspicious. At least that was what happening so far.

As soon as she pushed the doorknob, the shadow was there, standing idly by the door. Its sudden appearance startled her to the point where she almost screamed, if she wasn't so good at controlling her emotion. Didn't bother hiding her annoyance, she spoke, "Clean yourself in the bathroom."

It nodded before opening the door on the right. She walked down the corridor, silently confirming it was a quick learner by nature. Assuming it studied its surrounding first before took any action like it was instructed to. A glimpse of it pulling up its shirt stopped her from walking and shut close bathroom door. _The shadow still has a long way to go to act like a normal human_.

* * *

Changing up to her pajamas, Saechika went out of her bedroom to check on the shadow. She found its bare back on the living room and couldn't help but feeling irritated of why it didn't wear any clothes on. She walked up to it, a little relieved it wore a pair of pants as she saw him sitting idly on the couch. "Didn't I tell you the basic on how to act properly in a society?"

The shadow had its yellow eyes gazed at hers before it slid away to the side, "The shirt was damaged."

Saechika sighed, walking back into her room to find it a spare shirt. She then threw the plain white shirt at it. "Wear that and get some rest." She spoke before retreating back to her room. _It's like taking care of a giant baby._

* * *

_Disclaimer : I don't own persona.  
_

_Note: It's AU, kinda, i don't know. You should ignore this note._


	2. Chapter 2

**Living**

* * *

Tokio let himself fell from the roof of a twenty floors tall building. Below him was a creature the scientists called shadow, looking up to him with its blackened eyes. Its slender body flied upwards with the help of its wide wings, defying gravity. Tokio aimed his handgun at them and shot them a couple of times. To his surprise, the creature was maneuvering itself swiftly in the air, dodging the bullets as though those were nothing but a couple of slow moving rocks. Retaliating, it lunged at him in a full force. Tokio could only brace himself by using both his arms as a shield when he was unable to move in the air.

The two fighters collided, the creature scaled temple against the man's arms. The impact sent the man flying through the building's walls while the creature stagnantly kept itself floated above the ground. As if unconvinced the man was dead, the creature landed its humanoid body inside the building through a hole in the wall the man had created with his body, flipping its wings shut. A loud noise was heard from afar and the man emerged from the rubble. His yellow eyes were distinctly visible in the dark room.

Tokio stared deeply at the creature and its body that resembled an alluring curve of a mature woman. Its skin was covered in dark scales and he was a tad taken off guard by those wings on its back. He thought the surprise attack from above was enough to capture it.

Sliding down the handgun back into its hostler, Tokio put his left foot forward and preparing a stance. His yellow eyes glimpsed at the creature's hands as a pair of claws began to grow over it. Then in split seconds, he tasted the sharpness of the claws on his chest, skewering his suit along with his flesh. He gritted his teeth, ignoring the pain and blocked the creature's next attack with his arm.

Tokio used his free hand to shoot out thunderbolts from his fingers, forcing the creature to dodge it and giving him some time and space to rethink his tactic. He made a run toward the hole in the wall and without a single hint of hesitation, he took a leap with his back facing the ground. Just as he thought, the creature pursued him in great speed, reaching out its claw while chasing him down in the air. Pulling out his handgun once more, he tried to shoot its wings but missed. However, that's where the creature was struck with a thunderbolt fired from his other hand. The creature went right into his trap.

Apparently, his tactical use of the handgun worked effectively in this fight. Over and over, the creature was misled by his gunshot and by predicting its movement, he could make a clean hit at it in the next attack. Tokio didn't waste any more time. The rest of the fight was brief and before it was vapored out into the void he already put the shadow with a roman number VIII written on its mask inside the capsule.

Tokio grimaced as he looked at the capsule. _Takeba might bitch about these small fragments again… _Shaking off his thought, he made his way back to the facility.

* * *

A pair of yellow eyes was sliding sideways as Takeba began his speech about how important those fragments were. Tokio only nodded and nodded, never really bother about it as long as he completed his objective. After about half an hour Tokio was dismissed and he found himself sighing. _That man sure could talk a lot… I should go back to the safe house._

At the entrance Tokio halted his walk, glimpsing a red haired little girl being guided by a tough looking man in a suit. They both briefly exchange glances as the man walked past Tokio. For a moment there, Tokio could feel a murderous intent from the man.

"Tokio."

The dark haired man looked over to the voice, dismissing his thought. He bowed as he identified who it belonged to; Kirijo Takehito.

Kirijo observed him closely and then spoke up, "An outstanding healing abilities indeed." The old man mused, "Tokio, try not to stand out in public would you?"

With that, Kirijo left. Tokio looked down to his chest to see his ripped shirt, exposing his abdomen area. _…oh, right. _The dark haired man walked back to the changing room before heading into the safe house.

* * *

Upon pushing the door open, Tokio was welcomed with a cold glare from Saechika Ruri. She crossed her arms over her chest, as if showing her sheer confidence and superiority among the both of them, "You're twenty seven minutes late. Report."

"Um... the enemy was hard to handle."

"Is that so?" Saechika briefly closed her eyes. She seemed satisfied by his answer. "Hmm... I see you also remembered to tidy yourself up."

Tokio looked down on his plain gray shirt. A nod was his only response.

Saechika grabbed her coat and began walking toward the exit, "Lock the door. I'm going out for a while. Remember, don't let anyone in."

"Okay." _I see, it's that time of the week. _That woman wasn't so organized about her daily schedule. Tokio had lived with her in this safe house for about two months and not once she repeated her daily activities in the same schedule on each day. That was aside from Wednesday at four in the morning. _Right now._ She always gone to the same place around that time. He could know that piece of information because he had been tailing her for the first three weeks. And until now, he still had no idea of her intention.

The dark haired man rested his back against the cushion with his head on the couch's arm. He felt a little exhausted from the last battle. Not surprising as he did a lot of running during the fight. Embracing the comfort of the squishy cushion, he closed his eyes.

An hour later, Tokio still had his consciousness and this was not the first time his attempt to sleep had failed. Sighing, he straightened his back and leaning against the couch. Before him was a rectangular black object that reflected his appearance. _A_ _TV, _if he recalled correctly. According to Saechika, its purpose was as an object of entertainment and information gathering. Though, she didn't seem so sure about the latter, commenting how the news lately seemed fabricated.

Tokio remembered how to operate it as he often saw Saechika spending her free time in front of it. There was another object called remote to command the TV. A pair of yellow eyes drifted to the shelf near the TV and sighted it. He leaned forward, grabbing the remote. As he was about to rest back into the couch, he saw his own yellow eyes from the reflection on the TV.

Dizziness struck his head. It came a little strong as he lost his grip on the remote and pinched his nose bridge, shutting his eyes. His breaths began to grow sporadic over time and he felt beads of sweat running down from his temple. The temperature inside his body had risen up to a point where he felt himself burning. Eventually, he let his back fell on the carpet, admitting his lost to pain.

_"Don't let it get away!"_

_"Saechika, wait!"_

_**"What's this? The frail little human wants a taste of revenge? Then come and get me."**_

_"What did you say…?!"_

_"Dammit, Saechika! Don't you get it? It's provoking you! It's a trap!"_

_"I don't care! I'm going to kill that tainted creature!"_

* * *

A pair of dark coal eyes stared deeply at the small building across the street. It belonged to an orphanage. A place where Saechika Ruri had spent her youth. Its owner had grown old and Saechika didn't find it surprising he had forgotten about her. He only recognized her as the donation-lady. It hurt more than she thought.

Nevertheless, she had paid her visit and felt the weight on her chest lifted a little. The kids probably still sleeping in their bedrooms at this hour. She had seen their cheerful faces the other day, watching their shenanigans during recess hour at the backyard. They appeared to bond well with one another, especially the trio the owner had mentioned.

A smile curled on her lips as she glimpsed one of the trio from the window. The little girl wore her sleepy face and waved her small hand at Saechika. She waved back to her as the boys were also snuck out their heads on the window. The warming view was suddenly blocked by the bus, stopping in front of the orphanage. Removing her smile, she walked away, heading back to the parking lot.

The facility was a little noisy. …_of course, it's the day. _The Anti-Shadow Weapon, Aigis, would run a scheduled field test in today's Dark Hour. Kimijima Yuu did a splendid job, much to her expectation. She had a passionate will and a brilliant mind. Saechika believed Aigis will be a true enemy for those creatures ever since she was told that Yuu would take over its development project.

Avoiding the crowd, Saechika silently went inside her office. She didn't had something particular to do here as her main job was to observe the shadow; Tokio. However, she preferred to remain alone inside her office rather than spending her time together with that creature in the apartment. Besides, she had to make an appearance as Kirijo Takehito's 'personal assistant.' like how her files were recorded in this facility.

"Ruriiii~~"

Saechika's shoulders twitched at Yuu's cheery and loud voice as she barged in. The green haired woman dragged Aigis along with her, arms clinging into the humanoid robot. Saechika's stern face was softened when she heard Yuu spoke of Aigis in such adoring manner. Yuu even called Aigis 'she.' "What a mother hen you are."

"Aww, really? Don't you thing Aigis-_chan_ is just cute?"

"A compliment. I shall record it in my memory. Searching for appropriate response… Thank you very much." Aigis spoke flatly, making Yuu squeal in happiness.

"By the way, Ruri. Have you seen Tokio?"

Saechika grimaced at the mentioned name. "No, I haven't." She was disgusted at herself how she could lie to her friend with a straight face.

Yuu hummed, "Is that so? Too bad then. I thought you would know. So far, you and Takeba-_san_ are the only people he ever talked with."

"What is it anyway?"

"Oh, nothing. I just want him to tutor Aigis for her first mission tonight."

_Why?_

As if answering the question in her mind, Yuu continued, "You see, he has done very well in the last five missions. He even captured two greater shadows by himself! Don't you know? It usually took four to five Persona Users to take capture one."

Saechika looked away. Kirijo's plan to rely on the creature seemed to be backfired. _It stands out too much. _"Shouldn't you talk to Chief about this first?"

"Why should I…? Ooh, is Tokio working directly under the Chief?"

"…yes,"

"No wonder he's so skilled." Yuu murmured, "Well, I'm gonna go ask Chief. Thanks, Ruri."

With Aigis in tow, Yuu left the office. That served as a cue for Saechika to contact Kirijo, informing him about Aigis. She heard a laugh over the phone, picturing the old man might be smirking by now.

**"So, what are you suggesting, Saechika?"**

"Refuse her, obviously. Aigis is an Anti-Shadow weapon. So there is over ninety percent chance Aigis will identify the creature as shadow and eliminated it."

**"Very well... I see your point."**

A sigh escaped from her mouth and she let herself sunk on her seat. She had expected things would go awry, knowing Kirijo's personality. She even believed he wouldn't mind if Aigis went gung-ho and destroyed the creature or the other way around when she heard his laugh. But, she digressed. _All that left is to make sure that creature isn't going nowhere near the facility for a while…_

Tokio slowly opened his eyes. The dizziness on his head began to fade away and he felt a cold sensation on his forehead. As soon as his vision had cleared, he saw Saechika looking down at him with narrowed eyes. _What… what happened?_

The dark haired man was moving up his body as he tried to sit, only to be stopped by Saechika's hand on his shoulder. "Just stay still." She said coldly.

"…okay." He responded, a little surprised that he barely heard his own voice. Tokio looked up directly at Saechika's coal eyes as he rested his head on the pillow. He's not sure why, but he could feel a raging hatred inside them, making him slid away his yellow orbs.

"How are you feeling?" Saechika asked as she walked toward the door.

"…I'm not sure."

"Did you suffer from dizziness before you passed out?"

"Um… yes." He saw the woman's brows frowned as she bit her lower lip.

Silence hung between them. Tokio watched how she sunk deep in her thought that she didn't seem to realize him staring at her. He wanted to know what she was thinking, assuming it had something to do with him. And so he asked her directly.

Saechika's reacted fast at his voice, eyes widened. After a few moment, she regained her composure and said, "Rest here for a while. You know where to find me." And then she left.

Tokio was left in silence inside the room. _What does she hide from me? _Saechika had never told him much about his past. Even when he inquired, all she said were he was initially one of the few who worked under Kirijo Takehito, as was she. She also told him the reason he couldn't remember much was because he was supposed to be dead and Kirijo took all the resource he had to 'revive' him.

For some reasons, Tokio couldn't bring himself to believe that. _There has to be something else. _Something more sinister that they didn't want him to know… He will find that out.

A sudden sense of vibration felt from his pocket. With his hand still under the blanket, Tokio pulled out the cellphone and pressed the button. He pushed the receiver on his ear.

**"Ah, Tokio? It's me Yuu. Kimijima Yuu. Sorry to call you all of the sudden. I got your number from the Chief. Say, Tokio, do you have time? I have a favor to ask, if you don't mind."**

"...sure." _I'm free from a mission for three days anyway._

* * *

_Disclaimer : I don't own Persona_


End file.
